Urgensi Pidana Mati Sebagai Pidana Utama dalam Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Pidana Militer

Abstract

In the Military Criminal Code (KUHPM), the death penalty is still placed as the main punishment, this is regulated in Article 6 letter a point 1, while in the 2023 Criminal Code (KUHP), the death penalty is no longer placed as the main punishment, but rather as a special conditional punishment. Thus, a debate arose regarding the relevance of the death penalty in the Military Criminal Code. In the 2023 Criminal Code, the death penalty is no longer absolute, but can be converted to life imprisonment after a 10-year probationary period. This indicates a shift in the orientation of national criminal law from retributive to rehabilitative. The inconsistency between the KUHPM and the 2023 Criminal Code gave rise to the idea of reviewing the existence of the death penalty as the main punishment in the KUHPM. This study aims to analyze how the concept of the death penalty in the 2023 Criminal Code impacts the military justice system due to the special nature of military criminal law. This study uses normative methods to evaluate the relevance of the death penalty in the Criminal Code (KUHPPM) and the impact of the revised concept of the death penalty in the 2023 Criminal Code on the military criminal justice system. The results show that, despite facing human rights criticism and a more humanistic approach to legal reform, the death penalty in the KUHPM remains highly relevant for safeguarding national defense interests.